Caterer s tray-table



(No Model.)

P. R. PERRYMAN.

GATERERS TRAY TABLE.

Patented Feb. 2, 1892.

Nrrn STATES FRANK R. PERRYMAN,

OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS.

CATERERS TRAY-TABLE.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent N 0. 468,038, dated February 2, 1892.

Application filed October 19, 1891 To all whom it nuzy concern.-

Be it known that I, FRANK R. PERRYMAN,

a citizen of the United States, residing at Chicago, in the county of Cook and State of Illinois, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Caterers Tray-Tables, of which the following is a specification. My invention relates to an improvement in tables especially designed for caterers usethat is to say, for use in places Where it is. inconvenient to use a stationary table. In caterers service, particularly in private houses, it has been the common practice to supply the viands directly to guests seated at the side of the room, the guest being required to hold the viands in his lap or upon the arm of the chair broadened for the purpose.

The purpose of the present invention is to provide a table of a light and durable character which may be set between two chairs arranged side by side and which may be folded to be out of the way of the guest when taking or leaving his seat and when in use will serve to receive a caterers tray, or which may be provided with a table-surface to receive the dishes directly. To this end my invention consists in the general features of construction hereinafter set forth and claimed, as well as in certain details of construction and combinations of parts, all as hereinafter set forth.

In the drawings, Figure 1 is a perspective view of a table embodying my invention and showing its use as a support for a caterers tray. Fig. 2 is a perspective view of the ends of one of the rings constituting tray-supports. Fig. 3 is a broken perspective view of the hinge-plate. Fig. 4 is a cross-section of the ring, a broken part of the tray, and the springclamp which holds the tray upon the ring and serves also to hold the doily; and Fig. 5, a perspective view of a card-table, showing how the same may be applied to the standard on the removal of a tray-table.

A represents a stand made in the extensible partst 8, having the set-screw locking connection s, the lower end of the standard carrying the folding legs 7". Any form of: standard and folding legs may be employed, as this feature forms no part of my invention. At the upper extremity of the rod tof the standard is mounted a hingeplate B, which com- Serial No. 409,172. (No model.)

prises a body 1), which may be conveniently made of brass or malleable iron, formed at the edges into hinges i, presenting the central openings 0. Depending from the lower face of the plate B is a short tube C, carrying the set-screw u, the tube receiving the upper extremity of the rod 2. and held from revolving thereon by the set-screw n. The tray-supporting rings D are made by preference with the angular converging ends or, the part or of which enters a hinge p and is held therein, while the points m serve when the ring is in a horizontal position to engage the under side of the plate B to prevent the ring from falling downward. It is desirable that the parts on of the ring shall fit closely in the hinges, so that when the ring is elevated to a vertical position it may be retained so by frictional resistance at the hinge. The table to be applied to the rings D may be of any desired form; but I prefer to use a table of the kind illustrated in the drawings and lettered E. In this form it comprises a dish having a flange Z, through the medium of which flange it rests upon the ring. IVhen of this form the dish may be held from displacement on the ring by a clamp F, made of spring metal bent to the form of a hook and having at the upper extremity a grippingedge 70. It is preferable to make the hook double to present the gripping-edge as well as the gripping-edge it, so that a doily carried by the table may be held between the jaws c a, when the table is elevated tion shown at the right of Fig. 1.

The stand A may be used to support a cardtable G, the latter being provided ata central point with a spider having a sleeve and thumb-screw to receive the upper extremity of the rod t.

I do not-limit my invention to the specific details of construction shown, and especially is the specific form of hinge illustrated capable of modification, although I prefer the construction shown in the drawings. It is desirable that the tray-supports shall be raised to a vertical position instead of being lowered, as is the case with a certain kind of folding table, partly because of the economy which can be practiced in devising means for supporting it in a horizontal position, but

principally because it is desirable that the to the posi- I table shall remain in the closed position until the guest is seated and shall thereupon be brought to the horizontal position and assume a level very little above the knees of the user. 1f the tray-supports hung downward, the device could still be used with advantage, but when being adjusted to use would either have to be carried away from the chairs or would have to be raised and lowered through the mechanism provided at s on the standard before and after turning to the horizontal, as otherwise the guest would be in the way of the lifting of the table. The specific form of hook illustrated in Fig. 4 is of advantage, particularly by reason of its simplicity; but any other device serving the same purpose may be used in its place without departing from the broad features of my invention.

\Vhat I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is

1. Acaterers table comprising ahinge-plate, rings supported to swing in vertical line on opposite sides of the hinge-plate, and a stand carrying the hinge-plate, substantially as described.

2. The combination,with a'stand, of ahingeplate at the upper end of the stand and a tray-support and the tray thereon, said traysupport being carried by the hinge-plate and supported to swing upward from a horizontal to a vertical position and held from falling below the horizontal position, substantially as described.

3. The combination, with a stand and vertically-swinging tray-support supported at the upper endof the stand, of removable trays upon the tray-supports and a spring clamp holding the edge of the plate and table together, substantially as described.

4. The combination, with a stand and with vertically swinging tray supports carried thereby, comprising rings carrying thereon trays, of a spring-clamp embracing the tray and ring and holding them together, substantially as described.

5. A caterers tray-table comprising a stand carrying at its upper extremity a removable hinge-plate, tray-supporting rings carried by the hinge-plate to swing thereon and held against falling below the horizontal, trays upon the rings, and clamps holding the trays and rings together, substantially as described.

6. The combination, with a stand A, carrying a hinge-plate B at its upper extremity,of rings D, having projecting ends m and hingebearing part m, adjusted to be supported in the hinges, substantially as described.

'7. The combination, with a stand A, of a removable hinge-plate B at the upper extremity of the stand and tray-supports carried by the hinge-plate to swing thereon, substantially as described.

FRANK R. PERRYMAN. In presence of- M. J. FRos'r,

J. N. HANSON. 

